by Emma Quinn
“Right, let’s do it.” I nodded slowly. “Let’s get you trained up in everything student bar related, and I have to warn you that it’s about a lot more than pouring drinks. The drinks are actually the least of your worries.”
She looked startle for a moment, but I figured that it was best to prepare her from the off. There was a lot to deal with when it came to drunken students and she needed to know that. I would be there to support her and help her anyway, as long as she was on shifts with me, everything was fine. And actually, the shifts were going to be more interesting for me as well. I decided to find a moment to speak with Matt, the manager of the bar shifts, and to ask him to make sure that we were working together more because I could give her the ride home. He would like that because of safety. He always wanted to protect any of the women working with us.
“Wow, that was intense,” Mila gasped as soon as we got the last student out of the bar. “I see what you mean now. Knowing the drinks is one thing, but dealing with the drunken arguments and leering… woah.”
I laughed and nodded. “I know, it can be a nightmare. It must be worse for you though. The drunken guys aren’t trying to get my number along with the next beer, are they? You handled it well though.”
“Some of the girls were worse!” she exclaimed, almost in shock. “I was surprised by some of the things that they said to you. They were bold, weren’t they? And not in a good way… unless you are into that sort of thing…”
“No way,” I laughed back as we cleaned together in unison, working with ease to get the bar looking respectable enough for the morning crew to take over the last few jobs. This was the bit which she didn’t need any help with. Mila had this under control. “No way, I don’t like it at all. It’s too much for me. I don’t need that…”
“That surprises me,” she admitted. “Because you always seemed to like that in high school.”
“I was a different person in high school, Mila, I keep trying to tell you that.”
“You do.” She cocked her head to one side curiously. “And maybe you weren’t lying to me. I don’t know. It’s hard for me to accept that you could be different now. But maybe that’s because I’m exactly the same.”
Before I could argue that and tell her that she had definitely grown up some as well, her cell phone bleeped with a message and as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and she smiled to herself. The secret smile which came from a message linked to a crush. I was shocked at the immediate spike of jealousy which hit me hard. Did she have a crush on someone else? And why did I care about that so much? Was it because she kept saying that she didn’t like to be seen, yet she clearly liked to be seen by this man. It was weird, and why wasn’t it me?
“Who’s that?” I asked, trying to sound innocent enough. “Texting this late at night? A booty call?”
“Brandon, actually.” That name made my blood run cold. Guilt also washed over me in intense waves, I couldn’t handle it. This was someone who’s life I destroyed. I never thought that I would have to face him again, but now there was a chance that I might and that was going to be really awkward because I’d have to say sorry. “He is back.”
“Back in America?” My voice might as well have not been there. “Back in town?”
“Exactly. He’s back. Not at college here, but he’s in town. He has an apartment and is looking for a job.” There it was, that smile again. How could she smile at him when he treated her so badly in high school? Honestly, it was bull shit. Even if he had changed, he did take her on a date and ruined her night. That was what started all of this in the first place. “He looks a lot different but it seems like it’s all turned him in to a much better person.”
“Better?” I cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean? He was always one of the geekier kids anyway.”
“Yeah, but there is more to life than grades.” What the fuck? Did those words actually come out of Mila’s mouth? She was willing to throw away her whole ethos because Brandon was back? What the fuck? I respected her for being so different, but it seemed that I was wrong. “He’s more of a… I don’t know, a well rounded person…”
That smile was killing me. I couldn’t stand it any longer. The weird unexpected jealousy was too much for me. I couldn’t stand it, this wasn’t like me at all. I was usually much cooler and more in control of my emotions.
“Let’s get out of here,” I shot back coldly. “The morning staff can do the rest. It’s late and we need to get out of here. I am sure that you’ll be wanting your sleep if you want to be on top studying form tomorrow. I can give you a ride, but we need to get out of here now because I am absolutely exhausted.” Oh my God. “Mila, are you even listening to me? I’m locking up in a moment and I don’t want to leave you here all night long.”
She nodded but barely even acknowledged me because she was too busy messaging fucking Brandon back yet again because apparently he was so important. I had always felt bad for the guy and I wanted to see him to say sorry after all that time, but now that I knew he was around I was fucking fuming at him. I couldn’t explain why I felt that way, only that he was taking Mila away from me, and she wasn’t even mine…
What the hell is wrong with me?
12
Mila
“ W
hat’s wrong?” I had to ask this as soon as we pulled up outside the building that me and Jake both lived in, because the tension between us was thick. It had been ever since we first started driving. “Did you not want to give me a ride or something? Because I can give you gas money or something, if that helps?”
“No, that isn’t the problem at all.” He sucked in a deep breath and shook his head. He was making a point of not meeting my eye which had me oddly nervous. Why did he seem to be keeping something from me? “It’s the messages. It’s Brandon. I don’t know if… if it’s a good idea for you to be messaging him.”
My heart leapt up into my throat. Who the fuck was Jake to try and tell me what to do? I had tried to express to him that we weren’t friends and we were never going to be, and I thought that still stood even if we were going to have to work together now, but it seemed like he wanted to interfere anyway. “Why not?”
“Well, because…” He was struggling for words, what the hell was going on? “While you were in the bathroom, I looked him up online. I checked out his social media profiles, and it seems like he is a bad guy these days.”
I narrowed my eyes curiously at him. “What do you mean, Jake? I don’t understand.”
“Well, look.” I didn’t want to see what Jake had to show me. I didn’t want to spy on Brandon. I wasn’t one for social media, I didn’t give a shit about the online world, but it seemed that Jake was going to show me anyway. “Look at this picture. Look at those guys with him. Don’t they all look like junkies? And look, what is that on his tongue? It’s a pill, right? It’s a drug. You don’t want to get involved with a junkie.”
That made me feel a bit ill. “You can’t make that assumption from just one picture. You have no idea what is going on. These guys could just be English, not junkies. There is a lot less sun shine there…”
Jake stared at me like I was being naïve. “Don’t be silly, Mila. You know better than that. They are pills.”
He pulled his cell phone back and showed me more pictures that apparently proved to me that Brandon was a bad guy these days, but I blurred my vision so I didn’t have to see them. I didn’t want to judge Brandon for who he was portraying online, no one ever showed their true selves on the Internet which was why I hated it a lot, I wanted to judge Brandon on who he was being with me. And right now, he was being a really nice guy. Better than ever.
“I just don’t think that someone with a bright future like you should be getting involved with this,” Jake concluded, once his stupid little lecture that I didn’t even ask for was over. “He didn’t treat you right in high school and now it seems like he wouldn’t treat you right again and that he could even get you in trouble…”
&nbs
p; “Jake, you have been trying to convince me this whole time that you aren’t the person you were back in high school. So, why can’t Brandon have changed as well?” Uh oh, I was snapping, my temper getting the better of me. But all of this had pissed me off a whole lot. “Did you ever think that maybe he went off the rails because of the car crash and the fact that he got sent away from the life that he knew so well? Maybe it was your fault…”
“I was an asshole but I didn’t make him get in to his father’s car,” he tried to defend himself. “And maybe he did go off the rails, which I feel really bad for. But if this is still his life now, you don’t want to get mixed up in it.”
I was buzzing, heating up, anger and hurt rushed through me. This man had absolutely no right to have an opinion on my life. He didn’t even know me. “Mind your own business, Jake. We aren’t friends.”
“But I want to be your friend,” he called out as I slammed the door open. “I want to be friends with you. I like you a lot, Mila, I always have done. I wanted to be your friend in high school but I was too much of an idiot for that. Now though, I’m older, now I know who I am and what I want out of life. Please, be my friend…”
But I had no intention of doing so. I slid out of the car and slammed the door closed, making a racket as I did, probably waking people up in the same way that the stupid party did a while back. I knew that Jake was headed in the same direction as me, but I didn’t want to walk up the stairs with him right now. Not when he had pissed me off so much. How the fuck could he say any of that to me? I didn’t give him an opinion on anything to do with his life. I didn’t even know anything about his life. How dare he look Brandon up online for me. If anyone was going to look him up on the Internet it should have been me and I didn’t want to do that because I didn’t want to know.
“Asshole.” I stomped up the stairs, irritation getting the better of me. “What a prick!”
Actually, his words had given me the opposite reaction to what he wanted. They only made me want to see Brandon more. In fact, I wanted to actively pursue him rather than stepping back and letting him come to me if he felt like it. Because I had changed, I was more grown up now, I could go after him if I wanted…
And even if he did have some bad shit happen to him in England, which those pictures online didn’t confirm or deny, then he would be passed that now and me and him could be better for one another.
Ring, ring… I pressed the cell phone to my ear, shuddering with rage and anxiety. Ring, ring…
“Mila?” God, Brandon sounded happy to hear from me which was awesome. “How’s it going? You’re up late…”
“I just finished my shift at the student bar.” I wasn’t sure if Jake was behind me listening, but I kinda hoped that he was so he could know that I didn’t give a shit about his opinion. “And you are the first person that I wanted to speak to when I came out. How are you doing? How are things in the new apartment? Are you all moved in?”
He told me about his long ass day of moving as I stepped in to my apartment and slammed the door behind me. It felt good to stick it to Jake and his long nose which was sticking in where it wasn’t wanted.
“So, if you’re all moved in and everything, are we going to meet up again?” I felt bold and flooded with excitement as I flopped on to the couch. “Because we had such a good time the other day, didn’t we?”
“Ooh, you want to hang out again?” He sounded pleased as punch. “How about we hang out tomorrow? We can meet for lunch and go from there. We can just let the day lay out in front of us and see what happens.”
It would mean missing one class, one of Mr. Bond’s classes at that which I hated to do when he put so much faith in me, but I could always call in sick just for one day. I mean, this was the closest to a date that me and Brandon had ever had and I really couldn’t turn my back on that. I had wanted it for far too long. And if it started the greatest love story of all time, the beginning of my romantic journey, then how could I say no? That would just be foolish.
“Sounds good, Brandon.” Flames licked through my body as I became consumed by fire. I writhed with pleasure on the couch just thinking about where my first date with Brandon could really take us. I wasn’t a ‘sex on a first date’ kind of girl for sure, but it was different with me and Brandon. I wouldn’t have said no because me and him had a long history, a long friendship, I had been in love with him forever. “I look forward to it.”
“Yeah, me too. I didn’t have any plans tomorrow, so now I’m really excited.”
I fist pumped and squealed with excitement as soon as I hung up the phone because I could hardly contain myself. There was something incredible about taking control of the situation and pushing for a date. After years of waiting and nothing happening, it had only taken one phone call for me to have it all.
“Me and Brandon,” I whispered to myself, the little electrical shoots of excitement coursing through my veins and making me more awake than ever. Even after my long bar shift, I wasn’t tired at all. “This is incredible.”
Fuck Jake, fuck his stupid opinions, fuck all of it. I wasn’t going to pay any attention to him, I was even going to ask Victoria to make sure that I didn’t have any shifts with him if I could help it because I had spent all of high school avoiding Jake and I wanted to do the same now. He wasn’t the sort of person who I ever wanted to be friends with and it was time that he understood that at long last.
13
Mila
“ W
ow, it sounds like you had a wild time in England…” I replied cautiously to the hundredth tale about his crazy times with his cool friends. “Sounds like you had a really great time there and it actually turned out well.”
“Oh yeah, strolling into a class as the mysterious American who had been sent half way around the world because of bad behavior gave me an edge that I never could have had if I’d stayed here. And the people there were cooler than here so I actually had the best time ever. In a way, stealing my father’s car had been a good idea. Who would have known, right?” He tossed his head back and laughed, really pleased with himself. “It all worked out for the best.”
“And what grades did you get in the end? Did you do as well as you were on track to?”
I cocked my head to one side and eyed him curiously. This was all a little bit weird to be honest. I wanted to live in this loving fantasy that I had created for myself, the rom com where the best friends fell in love, but it was hard to put Brandon in to the mold where he used to fit. The two years apart had changed him so much. As a person, he was almost unrecognizable. The guy that I used to spend most of my time with didn’t exist any longer.
But that was okay, wasn’t it? That didn’t mean I needed to turn my back on him. I had probably changed as well in some way. We just had to get readjusted to one another, that was all. It wouldn’t be hard… probably.
“I didn’t really bother with my exams.” He sniffed a couple of times. “Not in the end. I figured that it was pointless to get grades in English exams because that isn’t going to help me here, is it?”
“Oh…” I didn’t really know what to say to that. He always used to be focused on doing well before and I was sure that English grades counted. Having some qualifications was better than nothing anyway… “So, you’ll do your GED instead? That will help you, won’t it? If you’re planning on going to college or whatever?”
“No college for me. I have a job lined up already so I don’t need to worry about it. I have street smarts.”
I screwed up my nose a little confused by him. “Right, street smarts, of course. So, your job…”
He silenced me in the most shocking way possible. By grabbing me around the back of my head and yanking me to him for a kiss. It was our first kiss ever, the moment that I had been imagining for as long as I could remember, and now… well, now it was done. I had to admit that it was never like this in my day dreams. It was always softer, sweeter, more filled with love. He never banged into my teeth because I wasn’t
expecting it at all.
“Oh!” I pulled back and stared at him, my eyes wide with shock. “What, erm… what was that about?”
“You want to kiss me, don’t you?” He laughed, clearly not worried about my embarrassment. “You have always wanted to kiss me and now I want to kiss you as well, so why don’t we just go with it?”
Had I always been that obvious? Did he always know and never let on? That was actually really humiliating. How could he put me through all that? I suppose in a way, I was overly flirty on the phone last night in a reaction to Jake and his bull shit, so I must have given Brandon the clue that I was going to jump in to bed with him, but that was crazy, there was no way. Even if this was my old best friend, I didn’t know him well enough for sex.
“You want another drink?” Either Brandon really didn’t sense my discomfort or he wanted to brush over it.
“Er, yeah sure.” I watched him go with my heart sinking low. I wasn’t sure what to think about all of this. I mean, Brandon had just kissed me, that was supposed to be everything that I wanted and more, but instead of feeling elated and excited, I was just… numb. There was nothing there inside of me. I was a mess. What was this?
Brandon flirted with the bar maid who flirted right back at him. I didn’t need to be able to hear what they were saying to see that, it was obvious from here. Neither of them were bothered about me and the kiss that we just shared at all, and to be honest I didn’t feel anything about it either. I wasn’t jealous or anything, this was odd.
“So, how are things in town?” Brandon slid the drink over to me, sloshing it over my fingers as I tried to grab it before it hit the floor. “You still see any of the old gang? Anyone from high school?”
“Not many of them because they all went off to college,” I replied pointedly, trying to remind him a little bit of who he was. “But Jake… you remember Jake, right? It was his party that night. He’s at college with me.”